Sunken treasure: The worst performing stocks from the blue chips were led by the miners, including Fortescue Metals Group, Santos and BHP Billiton. Illustration: Karl Hilzinger

But the worst performing stocks from the blue chips were led by the miners, including Fortescue Metals Group, Santos and BHP Billiton.

Property developers Lend Lease was the best performer for the year-to-date. Its share price returned 47.5 per cent to close at $16.45 on Tuesday, despite having led the doomed East West Link consortium and losing a High Court battle to the Victorian state revenue office over stamp duty for its Docklands sites.

CLSA diversified industrials analyst Andrew Johnston says the stock will continue to benefit in 2015 from strong apartment development, buoyed by foreign capital, as well as emerging infrastructure construction.

The second best performing blue chip for the year is Westfield Corporation, merely six months after it emerged as a separate vehicle for its international assets (the Australian and New Zealand assets became Scentre Group).

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Newcrest Mining made the list at number three, climbing back from a low base of $7.80 this time last year and adding 36 per cent. The company did not pay dividends in 2014, and subsequently spent $100 million on repaying debts.

Allan Gray portfolio manager Simon Mawhinney has also listed the stock among his top buys for 2015.

The wooden spoon for 2014 belongs to Fortescue Metals Group as the iron ore price continues its downward spiral. The miner has posted a massive 53 per cent lower return for the year-to-date.

Meanwhile, 2014 went from bad to worse for professional services firm WorleyParsons. A year starting with bleak profit warnings and low investor confidence ended with the company down 41 per cent, the worst of the slide starting in the September quarter as oil prices plummeted.

Earlier this month UBS slashed its 12-month price target on the company to $9 down from $13, warning of further, more aggressive cost-cutting on the back of a slowdown in projects.

Among the non-resources that struggled this year was Coca-Cola Amatil, after a period of consolidation hit hard, losing 23 per cent, while Crown Resorts shed 25 per cent.

Rio Tinto was perhaps the best of the worst, dropping just 15 per cent in a year punctuated by the shambolic sale of its $3.9 billion Mozambique coal assets for a meagre $50 million in July.